1st Annual Brooklyn Beer Experiment: Say it ain’t over…

I am going to start this post with an apology. While on stage, I forgot to thank my girlfriend publicly for doing all the work she did to make a wonderful website for the event. I think she deserves a ‘Webby.”

Wow, what a day it was. I could not believe all these talented Chefs and Homebrewers came out of the woodwork to make this incredible event happen. They were awesome. I also have to thank the Judges, who were knowledgeable, courteous, and sincere. I will admit, as an organizer, it was difficult not to compete. I had formulated my entry weeks ago. I am not even sure if it would have placed, there were many killer dishes. There were dishes that were not called out during the awards ceremony that were unique and spectacular. I was shocked, and I organized the damn thing.

This is the first time I ever tried all the entries at a cook-off. It takes a strong stomach to manage so many flavors in a limited amount of time.

Here are some special Shout Outs to those not on the receiving end of some prizes:

Team Half Pints

The Half Pints: I thought your dish from start to finish was awesome. The beer ‘jelly’ was especially unique…Shocker…

Kim: Your ice cream was delicious, very creamy and I loved it with the pretzel topping

Funnel your pleasure: Noah, I wish we could let you fry, but I didn’t want to burn the place down with our first event. Still, they were very good and I would love to try them fresh.

Beef Jerky: Rachel, I personally love beef jerky. When I drove across the country, I ate beef jerky for days straight…yours was awesome.

J.J. Proville

JJ Proville: I know I gave you a ton of shit, but that is because you cook so well. Your meat as always was perfectly cooked.

Lei-Mo: Your pork was nice and moist. I love your sign. I hope you frame it.

The day after an event always feel strange. I am left with a small sense of loss. First, I am not getting a hundred emails daily from Nick. Second, what am I supposed to do? This was a great event to distract me from my unemployment. Actually, let me give you an insiders recap before boring you with my pity party.

Saturday, the night before the event, Nick and I got some drinks and then went to his place to celebrate his brother’s birthday. The whole time he is counseling me to get some rest and not drink. He was reminding me to the point of distraction. I actually got paranoid. So I pulled myself away after hearing some trash talk from none other than Nick’s Mom, Bonnie. She is cool peoples, and there is nothing like a Mom trash talkin about food. So, did Nick listen to his own advice? Did he go to bed early? NO…While he convinces me to go to bed early, he stays up until 3:30 in the AM. No Fair…I was sober way too long on Sunday. When I arrived at The Bell House at 10 am on Sunday, even the G.M. was nursing a hangover. Like I said, I was unprepared.

Trash-talkin Mama Suarez takes Judge's Second Place

As usual, I arrived super early to set up. From my past when I used to run lounges and bars, I love setting up for an event in a large empty space. It is very Zen for me. I feel truly relaxed, just throwing tables around. The Bell House is a large space with a capacity of 600, and still the tables are difficult to arrange for an easy cook-off. Nick and I tried to make the competitors stations set for max ease.

Nick brought a crew to help out. He doesn’t mess around. We ended up with a volunteer force 10 strong. They were simply amazing and will not get the credit they deserve. There was Nate, Taylor, Chris, 2 brothers, 1 Dad, and others. They did everything from hand out plates to count ballots, and I would like to let them know that I have a lot of appreciation for the job they did.

I will say that I thought the event ran smoothly. I enjoyed trying all the homebrew. I am not a brewer, so this was a new experience for me. The creativity and variety were the best part.

not sure what's going on here...

For an event that took a long time to organize, it seems like it ended way too quickly. The time from when the doors opened to the time we announced the winners raced by without introspection. I had a friend from Delaware surprise me by coming, and I saw him for five minutes. But I cannot wait to do another Experiment. Look out for the “Cheese Experiment” and the “Chinese Take-Out Experiment”